Council Approves Conversion of Henry Street Firehouse into Community Space

Community facility will provide on-site social services and improved access to need-based financial benefits.  On August 13, 2015, the City Council adopted a resolution to rehabilitate a vacant firehouse and convert it into a community facility.  The Department of Housing Preservation and Development submitted the Urban Development Action Area Project proposal to the City Planning Commission on March 31, 2015.  The four-story firehouse is located at 269 Henry Street in the Lower East Side neighborhood … <Read More>


BSA Permits Mixed-Use Building in Residential Zone

Board found the applicant had a vested right to complete construction of the building as designed.  On June 2, 2015 the Board of Standards and Appeals voted to permit 250 Manhattan LLC to continue constructing a six-story mixed commercial and residential building at 250 Manhattan Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  The building will contain eight dwelling units and commercial space totaling 7,613 square feet of floor area.


BSA Approves Variance for New Residential Apartment Building in Brooklyn

The Board found the subject site, polluted by past automotive use, carried unique hardship.  On March 31, 2015 the Board of Standards and Appeals voted to grant Moshe Packman a variance to facilitate construction of a four-story residential building in Marine Park, Brooklyn.  The proposed building is located at 2881 Nostrand Avenue and will contain nineteen dwelling units covering 21,827 square feet.


Wide Community Opposition Voiced in Hearing on Three-Dwelling Development

Applicants sought to subdivide lot with existing home to construct to new buildings, and also build another dwelling on adjoining site. On February 17, 2015, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered an application to develop three new free-standing homes in the Fieldston Historic District. The site is composed of two lots at 4680 Fieldston Road, with one lot, to be subdivided, currently occupied by a 1918 one-family home. According to the New York Times, … <Read More>


Permission to Operate Sidewalk Café Upheld on Appeal

Landlord was required by lease to consent to tenant’s operation of a sidewalk café, absent a good-faith basis.  DMF Gramercy Enterprises, Inc. has operated Pete’s Tavern, a sidewalk café at 129 East 18th Street in Gramercy, Manhattan, and claims to be the longest continuously-operating bar and restaurant in New York City.  DMF Gramercy has operated Pete’s since 1964 when it entered into a lease with the building’s then-owner. The current owner is the Lillian Troy … <Read More>


Landmarks Approves New 14-story Tower in Historic District

Project will entail the demolition of 1961 office and warehouse building occupied by the Catholic Medical Mission Board. On December 16, 2014, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to approve an application for a new building at 8 West 17th Street in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District. The site is currently occupied by a 3-story 1961 commercial building designed by the firm Belfatto and Pavarino, known mostly for their ecclesiastical architecture.